A device of the type specified above has already been proposed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 20010042767 A1, which is assigned to the assignee of the present applicant, and incorporated herein by reference. In the device, the box or housing containing the electronic control unit is mounted on the down tube of the bicycle frame in a position corresponding to the area of fixing of the bottle cage. Associated to the box for containing the electronic control unit is a battery holder. In the further Italian Patent Application No. TO2000A000869, filed on Sep. 15, 2000, which is assigned to the assignee of the present applicant, and incorporated herein by reference, the applicant has proposed an improvement of the known device to provide a quick connection between the battery holder and the box containing the electronic control unit, which also enables a quick electrical connection between the power supply batteries and the electronic control unit.
In the previously proposed solution, the electronic control device is designed to be connected both to the actuator of the front derailleur of the bicycle and to the actuator of the rear derailleur for motor-driven control of said derailleurs. It is to be noted that an electronically controlled motor-driven gear-change solution that uses electrical actuators for controlling the front derailleur and the rear derailleur has for some time been proposed as described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,277 and which is incorporated by reference in the present application.
In the previously proposed solution, the box of the electronic control device is mounted on the down tube of the bicycle frame in a position corresponding to the area of anchorage of the bottle cage. From the electronic control unit there exit two cables which are designed to be connected respectively to be connected to the electrical actuator of the front derailleur and to the electrical actuator of the rear derailleur. In the practical applications, the connection of the two cables for connection to the electronic control unit is made by embedding the terminal part of the cables in the plastic material that forms the body of the box, so as to obtain hermetically sealed connections. This gives rise to a corresponding complication in the operations of wiring of the control unit and involves the added aesthetic drawback deriving from the arrangement of two connection cables on the outside of the down tube of the bicycle frame.
In order to overcome the aforesaid drawbacks, the purpose of the present invention is to provide an intermediate connection unit usable on board of a bicycle, characterized by comprising a casing designed for being mounted on the bicycle, at least one input and at least two outputs.
With the arrangement of the previously mentioned intermediate connection unit, the electronic control unit has a single cable directed towards the two electrical actuators for controlling the bicycle derailleurs, through the intermediate connection unit from which there exit two cables, one directed to the front derailleur and the other to the rear derailleur, can be set in an area of the frame less in view. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the housing of the intermediate connection unit is designed to be mounted underneath the bottom bracket shell or crank case of the bicycle. In this position, bicycles with flexible cable gear control are provided with an auxiliary support for guiding the two control cables, i.e., that of the front derailleur and that of the rear derailleur. In the case of the present invention, in place of the said support there is mounted the housing of the aforesaid intermediate connection unit, the said unit being connected to the electronic control unit by means of a single connection cable and having at least two outputs connected to the two electrical actuators. Of course, the intermediate connection unit can be provided also with other outputs, for example for connection to accessory members, such as sensors or the like, as well as with other inputs in addition to that connected to the control unit.
With the above characteristics, the wiring of the electronic control unit is simpler, and the device is also improved from the aesthetic point of view in that it provides a single cable set on the outside of the down tube of the bicycle frame.